first time at the 1/4 in 6 years

Finally made it to a dragstrip. It's been like 6 years since i was last there. The last outing was when i had first got the car and couldn't really muster a good launch and ended up only getting a 12.9 @ 120mph. Respectable mph but not so much in the eta department. This was with the old 302. it had dyno'ed 390/360 at the time. Since then a lot has changed; 331, afm cam, more boost, new exhuast, better tune. Last it dyno'ed 450/450 but there is no doubt it is higher now with the recent additions.

This past weekend was the super stallions race at Cecil country. The Saturday before, the head gasket popped on me the day after paying for the race. Tried like mad to get it back together in time. ended up being that the cometic head gasket actually failed and thankfully i didn't have to mil the head. $300 later the car was back in business. Saturday morning was tense trying to set the timing and find an unbroken alternator (a story in itself). I trailered it to the track (much to Troy's amusement) just in case the car had some lingering issues or it blew up again.

1st Pass: 1.99 60' - 8.0 1/8 - 12.12 @ 121mph. I was pleased with the pass for not having been down the 1/4 in so long and not really getting a good hook up.

2nd Pass: not the best results.....watch it here: YouTube - SSOTN 20101113_1920x1080.wmv
My run starts at about 43 seconds in. Boy am I glad I missed second gear...

3rd Pass: 1.89 60' - 7.8 1/8 - 12.11 @ 112mph. I got a good 60', had good shifts and the car felt strong. Then at about 4500 in 4th it felt like the blower belt was slipping bad. Just didn't have the balls anymore. look behind me and see some white smoke. Figure it was too late to slow down and if it broke again I was going to REALLY break it this time. Get to the end and i'm leaking coolant. Here, were never actually brought the car up to temperature to top off the rest of the system in our rush to get to the track and make some passes. The rad cap popped and spewed coolant all over the place getting some on my blower belt causing it to slip. So at least it's an easy fix, but none the less dissapointing.

I was really hoping for an 11 second timeslip but it just wasn't meant to be that day. Getting the same eta but 10mph slower, it really has me believing the car could have pulled an 11.8 if the cap didn't blow. I doubt it will be out to a track again this year but next year I want to get back to the 1/4 to get my 11 second pass. I'd be tickled pink if i could get it into the 11.50s. I have no doubt it's capable of it once i get the meth inj installed over the winter.